This invention relates to clamping vises and has particular reference to a hand-held vise of the type used by jewelers or the like to clamp or hold items such as rings to be worked on.
Hand-held vises of this type have been in extensive use heretofore. Such vises generally comprise two clamp members pivotally connected intermediate the ends thereof by suitable bearings and having jaws at one end. Since the jaws must normally exert considerable force to effectively clamp jewelry and other items to be worked on, a wedge is generally driven between the opposite ends of the clamp members. This creates considerable loads on the hinge elements or bearings, and since the latter must be relatively small to be located between or alongside the clamp members, such hinge bearings often break. Further, in order to make the hinge bearings as large as possible, they often project along the sides of clamp members, making it inconvenient to hold the same in one's hand. Another disadvantage of these prior vises is that the wedge tends to loosen during the time that the piece of jewelry is being worked on, and must, from time to time, be hammered down into the space between the clamp members, so as to retighten the grip on the workpiece.